>> all of these fake voters. >> illegals are voting. >> where the gatekeepers of information are no more. >> people with a limp. >> and. >> somebody who's got. >> a lazy eye. >> where rioters records are wiped clear. >> usa. >> where hate is no longer dressed up. >> have we been smitten from the earth? >> no. >> kiss me. >> and where extremism has a pretty face. >> we definitely know who. >> wins times. >> sexiest alleged. >> murderer of the year. >> to a point where even the most extreme among us can't or won't acknowledge how extreme they've become. >> let me walk along beside you. >> embrace what they call you. when i was in prison, i got terrorist tattooed right here on my chest. you know what? screw it. you want to call me that? that's okay with me. it doesn't bother me. >> extremism is its own kind of thing, man. like, hang around

to the average american, the notion of lobbying conjures images of moneyed special interests, such as big tobacco or defense contractors, using vast sums of money to influence our representatives, who then write laws or block laws to benefit them and screw us. but there's much more to it than that. - the good lobbyist is really supplying information and expertise to the congress so that they can write legislation that makes sense. the part of the first amendment that people don't talk about much is the part that says you shall have the right to petition the government. and this goes all the way back to the declaration of independence. - but the potential abuse of this was contemplated in the federalist papers, when james madison warned of factions, especially wealthy ones, acting on self-interest, adverse to the rights of others. it is, however, hard to imagine james madison

even conceiving of the power of influence peddlers such as republican uber lobbyist jack abramoff. - i have met many folks over the time i've been here. i've met many great people, and obviously, i've met some democrats as well. [laughter] - beginning in the 1990s, he influenced legislation on behalf of a large roster of clients, including several native american tribes and their lucrative gambling interests. - jack abramoff is a chameleon. sometimes he's very religious and caring. sometimes he's an absolute crook. - jack was able to alter or block bills for his clients by plying lawmakers with free meals, super bowl tickets, exotic vacations, and, of course, massive campaign contributions. by the early 2000s, jack abramoff was washington, dc's most powerful man that you had never heard of. - jack "ambramoff." - jack "abromoff." - jack "abermoff." - unfortunately, we'd all have to learn

how to pronounce jack abramoff's name in 2004, because that's when his exploits became front-page news. journalist susan schmidt would win a pulitzer, exposing abramoff's scheme to defraud his native american clients of more than $85 million. and that was just the beginning. - there were more and more and more schemes. this became a bigger story even than an enron. - federal investigation is underway into the activities of superlobbyist jack abramoff and pr man mike scanlon. - these are predators, and they got a thrill out of exploiting their native american clients. - according to your emails, you and mr. scanlon referred to tribes as morons, stupid idiots, monkeys, effing troglodytes. - as the walls closed in, abramoff and his partner in crime, michael scanlon, between them pleaded guilty to charges including fraud, conspiracy, and yes, bribing members of congress. - jack abramoff's guilty plea could spell trouble

for some of washington's top powerbrokers, including more than a dozen members of congress. - that giant sucking sound heard throughout washington, dc, were dc republicans holding their breath, hoping they weren't next in the crosshairs. - the department of justice swoops in and convenes a grand jury, and it put everyone on alert. - the late-night hosts loved watching dc squirm. - i know a few members of congress did take money from abramoff, but-- [laughter] let that go for a second. - and everybody who once cozied up to jack could not run away fast enough. - can you say, sir, whether you were lobbied by jack abramoff? - i-- uh-- you know, i frankly don't even remember having my picture taken with the guy. - within months, more than 20 officials from k street to congress to the white house toppled in the largest influence-peddling scandal

in american history. but these crimes pointed to a more jarring truth. - what's important about abramoff is actually the legal stuff that he was doing. because even if you lopped off all of those crimes, the stuff he did that was completely legal destroys democracy. - it destroys democracy by making money the sole conduit of influence, blocking people like you and me from petitioning our representatives. jack himself would not sit down with me to talk about how cash-strapped politicians make easy marks, but former ohio congressman bob ney agreed to do it. had he not accepted favors from abramoff, ney might have been remembered best for changing the house cafeteria menu to stick it to france for not supporting our invasion of iraq. - today, to protect our way of life, throughout the capital, it will be freedom fries and freedom toast. - instead, ney pleaded guilty to felony corruption charges in 2006 and served 2 1/2 years in a federal penitentiary.

thanks so much for doing this. appreciate it. - sure. - i imagine most people come to washington wanting to do good, wanting to help their constituents. do you think the system is inherently corrupt or, if not corrupt, corrupting in a way? - well, when i was first elected to congress, this vision i had that i'm gonna go to congress and we're gonna start on the things i want to do for the district, that soon became a whole different flavor, where i had my chief of staff and campaign people saying if you didn't raise $150,000 within the first six months, you were going to be on the political death list. and that starts the whole catch-22. you want to do all these great things for your district, you got to raise the money to keep yourself there so you can do those things. - and jack abramoff could supply campaign contributions for you. - oh, yes. - describe for our viewers, if you could, how powerful jack abramoff was. - oh, he had, i think, more power than the average lobbyist. well, he was close to the speaker.

he was close to delay. he was close to karl rove. the white house, the president, anybody you wanted to be close to, jack was. - sounds like you're describing a lobbyist who is more powerful than the average member of congress, more powerful than even maybe a cabinet official. - jake, if i had to choose between getting to know a cabinet member and getting to know jack abramoff, i'm gonna take getting to know jack. - but how did jack get so many powerful friends? jack's morning in america began as he joined the burgeoning conservative movement in college, rising to national prominence when he became chairman of the college republican national committee. he would even be a guest at ronald reagan's birthday party-- - mr. president, happy birthday and six more years. - --and laid down some verse at the '84 republican national convention. - if we're the party of tax cuts and not the party of ifs and buts, then we're riding our wave.

- so what does a passionate young republican do after getting his law degree from georgetown? he goes to hollywood and produces "red scorpion," starring "rocky iv" villain dolph lundgren, who single-handedly protects the african continent from communism. the film flopped, but jack learned how to grab people's hearts and open their wallets. jack returned to washington as a lobbyist for law firm preston gates just in time to ride the wave of republican revolution that was rocking dc. - in 1994, for the first time in 40 years, republicans took control of the house, and gingrich became the speaker. - revolution was in the air. we were gonna change things. i was a total true believer. so i started working for the congressman bob ney. man, i felt like, you know, i was on the adventure of a lifetime. - from the perspective of speaker gingrich, the republicans were righteous rebels. and in order to deliver for the american people,

they needed to get reelected. - newt gingrich realized that the only way he was gonna keep control of the house was to bring as much money into the republican party as possible. he told members they'd only be working three days a week. the rest of the time, they'd be raising money. so now the congressperson depends heavily on the lobbyists to channel money to them to fund their campaigns. - the fundraising pressure imposed by gingrich shifted the power dynamic in washington from the representatives who held the power to the lobbyists who held the money. jack was in the perfect position to lead the political elite wherever he wanted. - jack had this reputation of having power and influence. myself, the congressman, our team, like, we wanted to move up the ladder in washington. so all roads led to jack abramoff.

[dramatic music] - with the republicans seizing control of congress in 1994, jack abramoff expanded his power on k street, the center of dc's lobbying industry. and on the hill, no political partnership was tighter than that of jack and house majority whip tom delay of texas. - tom delay is who all of us want to be when we grow up. - as delay moved up the ranks in the house, he was aided by abramoff's access to money. so this created a real grid of power

for tom delay and jack abramoff. - and in his search for more money and power, jack boldly went where many had gone before. - abramoff began representing a number of different native american tribes. many of these tribes had come into significant amounts of money because of the indian gaming laws that were passed in congress in the 1980s and, in the late 1980s, an effort by the congress to allow the tribes to, for the first time, really raise money for their own development. - and considering their historical mistreatment at the hands of the us government, it made perfect sense for the tribes to seek power and a stronger voice. jack convinced the tribes that he was the guy to turn their money into influence. and he had some early legal success representing the mississippi choctaw, where he blocked a new congressional tax proposal that targeted the tribes. as his reputation in business grew, jack needed to expand his team at preston gates. so he leaned on an age-old washington tradition,

the revolving door between lawmaking and lobbying. - the republican leadership and tom delay used to organize to send conservative staff people down to k street as lobbyists and vice versa. it was called the revolving door. it was very easy for congressional staff and former members to leave their job and go to work the next day for the very industries that they had been having oversight over. - because of the way that lobbying works and the connections that people have, it can easily move into the land of influence peddling. you pay me not just for my expertise but also to convince my former contacts that they should change their policy because we say so. - a direct quid pro quo is illegal, but lobbyists and lawmakers are usually too sophisticated to be so explicit.

and jack plucked staffers straight from the top of the hill who understood this, including tom delay's brazen operative, mike scanlon, and bob ney's starry-eyed chief of staff, neil volz. - i started as a press secretary making $14,500 a year. and when i started working for jack, i was making, what, $300,000, $400,000 a year with expense accounts and access to campaign contributions and living the life. - what was your reaction when neil told you he was gonna go work for jack abramoff? - i felt a little bit bad about it because of the fact that neil had been with me a long time. but for the most part, it was good. he was gonna be in the inner workings of jack abramoff's organization. he could help us. i could help him. but on the other hand, that created a link for neil and i that wasn't healthy. - we sold ourselves to the tribes as people who could get things done. and we were able to point to success stories, to new tribes to say, if you work with us,

we can help you become like the other tribes. we were a pack of wolves. - but for these hungry young capitalists, there was one problem. - there were no real big issues facing the indian tribes. there were no real threats to their sovereignty, to their casinos. but jack abramoff was an excellent salesman. - the coushatta tribe and its casino in kinder, louisiana, have grown to become one of the state's largest private employers. and much of its success is fueled by money from texas visitors. - jack abramoff was engaged by the coushatta tribe right around 2001, and he would come up with just outright lies about threats to the gaming market in southwest louisiana. - he stoked this fear. you know, oh, rival tribes are gonna open a casino and are gonna cut into your profits, and said, you have to hire me and then charged them

outrageous amounts of money. - helping the native american community obtain real power would be very difficult to do. so abramoff opted instead to just make shit up. playing on his client's fear, the potential of rival casinos in texas, was dirty, for sure, but totally legal. and to wring more money out of the coushatta, jack pushed the tribe to hire a friend. - abramoff would go in and would say, you really have to hire mike scanlon. he's the best in the business at running a grassroots pr operation. - abramoff's new boy wonder, michael scanlon, now had a public relations firm that could help the coushatta rally public opinion to their cause. abramoff and scanlon wanted to eliminate competing casinos in texas, and they enlisted christian coalition firebrand ralph reed and his evangelical base to help. - we are in grave danger from what we believe

is one of the greatest cancers growing on the american body politic, and that is the scourge of legalized gambling. - the plan worked. evangelical noise got the state of texas to ban tribal gaming. jack had protected the louisiana coushatta's casino from the potential threat of competition. but there was one more level to his plan. - what nobody knew is that scanlon was getting a huge amount of money from the tribe, two or three times what abramoff was getting, and then they were splitting it. - they were splitting it, which jack never disclosed to the coushatta, and that is very illegal. and it's also where this tale crosses over from slimy lobbying to outright fraud to the tune of $32 million. and while one tribe in louisiana was able to protect their market share, the repercussions were absolutely devastating for another tribe in texas.

- the speaking rock casino is a modest-looking building that once generated extravagant profits for the tigua indians in el paso, texas. - 24 hours a day, the parking lots were full. the revenue was coming in. - but in february 2002, the state of texas won a court battle to shut down the casino. - with the texas tigua tribe in ruins, abramoff and scanlon went behind the coushatta's backs and straight to the tigua to sell themselves to the tribe they just screwed over as their only salvation. - i remember trying to get the tigua, their casino reopened. and that's what i worked with bob ney, the congressman, on in terms of getting, you know, a fix for the tigua tribe put into legislation. - so jack abramoff would tell the tribe, you need to hire me. there's this group out there that wants to block you from getting the casino. meanwhile he was in cahoots with them. it was all just a way to get the tribe to cough up as much money as possible.

- correct. it was kind of all plotted. jack was able to say to the tigua, you've got this group out there opposing you, and that was scanlon, and they were all intertwined. - intertwined like roots running through the dc swamp just below the surface. soon bob would find himself ensnared more than any other politician in jack abramoff's schemes.

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[dramatic music] - by 2002, jack abramoff had made millions pitting native american tribes against each other and making conflict of interest his business model. - abramoff and scanlon would tell tribal governments, keep paying us, and we'll make sure that you have access to certain people, whether it be in highest levels of government or to different pac organizations that will protect their interests. - so the tribes made contributions, pay for trips, and he convinced the tribes that this will help you establish yourself as a player in washington. - and while the tribes never reached player status in washington, jack certainly did-- with their money. he spent a million dollars a year just on skyboxes. - abramoff had four skyboxes, 22 seats in each box. every night, they were being filled by congressmen who were holding fundraisers.

- and he even opened a restaurant called signatures, which attracted a very specific clientele. - you'd have a couple of elected officials. you'd have policy makers. you'd have other lobbyists there. i mean, it became a who's who of capitol hill on any given night. it really gave us the ability to create leverage and build relationships. - tell me about signatures. - bad food-- i'm gonna tell you right now. - really? - oh, yeah. oh, yeah. why do you think he bought a restaurant, because he likes restaurant business? he's getting power. - was it basically just open bar and free food? - i'm assuming most of the white house didn't pay a tab. you could see karl rove, see people walking through, members of congress. john boehner's gonna go down there. - he loves his merlot. - yep. oh, yeah. - between 2002 and 2003, abramoff gave out more than $180,000 in food and drink at signatures. but so much of washington, dc, lobbying

resides in that ethically hazy fog of deniability. even if lawmakers were willing to pay for food and drink, lobbyists were eager to do so for access to the it crowd. and while this violates congressional ethics rules, it's only illegal if the law enforcement authorities can prove a direct quid pro quo. and that is no easy task. tell us about accepting bribes. - i didn't accept a bribe. it's not bribery under the sense that here, here's a rolex watch. go vote for that. - ok, so the financial contributions that were coming your way as part of a world where you looked out for abramoff and his clients and they looked out for you, that was a culture of corruption, but it wasn't bribery, per se. - favors were done at jack's restaurant. it was generic. we had meals, and we had free drinks, things like that. - yeah, and campaign contributions. - campaign contributions, sure. but it's not a bribe, but it's obviously trading favors.

- but you did do things for jack that i'm not saying were crimes, but you had a good relationship with him. you did things for him. he did things for you. tickets to concerts and sporting events. - mm-hmm. - using abramoff's box suites at venues in dc and baltimore. - sure. - tens of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions, in-kind campaign contributions in the form of free fundraisers. international and domestic trips, including a trip to play golf in scotland in august of 2002, with total trip costs exceeding $160,000 paid for by abramoff and his clients. - the scotland trip. it wasn't what it was supposed to be. - what was the trip supposed to be? - the trip was supposed to be where we would go to scotland, eventually go to london, and meet with some members of the parliament. but the meeting got canceled. so it ended up more of a golfing trip than it did of what it was originally supposed to be. - oh, man, i loved going to scotland.

however, this trip happened outside the confines of the legislative process, and that's what made it so problematic. - ah, "problematic," the nice way of saying illegal. it's true that if bob had so much as shaken the hand of a member of parliament, the trip would have been perfectly aboveboard. but the real problem is these perks of the job. fancy vacations funded by jack's clients lay the perfect foundation for a quid pro quo, one that bob will go to his grave denying. - jack was trying to get the tigua tribe their casino license back. and he came to me for an amendment in a bill that i had, which was the help america vote act. - he wanted you to put in the help america vote act this provision that had nothing to do with voting-- - exactly, right. - --that would just allow these two tribes in texas to open casinos. - yes. jack didn't get the amendment because i never presented the amendment. i never laid the amendment on the table.

and so when it collapsed, jack asked me, and i did do a conference call with the tribes to tell them what a great guy jack was and how he could, you know, probably help them. because jack was a little bit in trouble with them since he didn't get the amendment for them. - so says bob. but it's worth noting the tigua tribe testified they met with abramoff and ney, and after ney said he'd insert the amendment, jack asked the tiguas to contribute $32,000 to ney and his pacs. this is literally legislation for dollars, the definition of a quid pro quo, and one of the acts that put bob ney in prison. in the end, the tigua paid jack $4.2 million, but they never got their casino reopened. meanwhile, in louisiana, david sickey and other coushatta tribal leaders had a sense that something was not quite right. - the tribal government had started questioning the actual numbers that abramoff was billing the tribe.

so i connected with tom rodgers, who had apparently worked with another tribe that had been affected by abramoff's exploitation. - tom rodgers was one of those honest lobbyists we told you at the top of the show actually exists. when he heard the coushatta's complaints, he was not at all surprised. he knew jack abramoff. so how did you start working with native tribes? how did that happen? - well, i'm blackfeet indian from my mother's side. growing up in montana, i was confronted daily with the extreme inequities of wealth. being a lobbyist is basically about telling stories. and native americans didn't get to tell their stories. - and so somewhere in there, you met abramoff? - yes. - and you met him--what was your impression of him? - jack would work with different tribes who were in great need, who were desperate. and he would prey upon their feelings of, we could lose what we have now, and we could never obtain anything more. - what stories were the tribal leaders telling you? - he did provide them access, but they all had one consistent story.

all of them were being charged millions of dollars-- these incredible, outrageous fees. - by piecing together stories from several tribes, tom was able to pull together a grander picture of widespread manipulation, intimidation, and corruption. his work would kick off a confrontation with one of the most powerful men in the nation's capital.

[dramatic music] - by 2003, the coushatta was not the only tribe suspicious of jack abramoff. tribal lobbyist tom rodgers was hearing stories from around the country of jack's legendary lobbying fees. but it wasn't until he took a call from michigan that he discovered the smoking gun. - monica quigley reached out to me. she worked for the saginaw chippewas in michigan. and she says, tom, i need your help. we've got this lobbyist who's charging us millions of dollars, about $1.5 million for the past three months, before he even started work. i said, where are you mailing these checks? she said, well, it's 611 pennsylvania avenue southeast. i said, southeast? there's nothing up there but an amoco gas station. i'm gonna drive up there. - that's when tom rodgers discovered the smoking gun was actually a little box with a lock on it. - i said, that suite you mail your checks to, it's about 8 inches wide and 10 inches long.

you're mailing it to a po box at mailboxes r us. i said, not only is he cheating you, but knowing where he's sending it to a po box, he's also cheating his law firm. so you've probably got him for wire fraud and mail fraud. - is that when you were first aware that he was probably breaking the law? - that was when it was criminal. jake, forgive me, but with all of that money, there's too much shit in that barn for there not to be a horse in there. - tom was gonna find that horse, so he linked up with tribal leaders to follow the stench. - we agreed to work together and exchange any document that we could get our hands on to begin connecting the dots. we began compiling old billing statements and invoices and confirming what other tribes were telling us. we found out later on that a lot of the money was being spent on pet projects. one specific example that really kind of caught my attention was that abramoff and scanlon were paying for a suite at the washington redskins stadium.

it was insulting and offensive at the same time. - after comparing notes, david and tom concluded that the coushatta had paid abramoff and scanlon $32 million. - he was charging more money to the tribes than microsoft was paying to avoid being split up in an antitrust effort. he was using that money to fund his own charities. he was using that money to fund his own lifestyle, his politicians. - abramoff and scanlon were taking money from the tribes and lying about how they were using it, which is dishonest, but, more importantly, it's fraud. and word was getting out. journalist susan schmidt was following a lead of her own. - in september, 2003, i got a call from a very prominent republican operative about mike scanlon. he went from basically paying off his student loans

to helicoptering to the delaware shore on weekends, where he'd purchased a mansion. it was so overnight, and it was so strange. and people knew he was working with abramoff. and then in early 2004, tom rodgers told me about some of the internal documents in the coushatta tribe, you know, the amounts of money they had contributed to members of congress and some of their financials. that information helped me put together the first big story. it was a massive, massive story. - on february 21, 2004, washington, dc, woke up to the first of a series of articles exposing jack abramoff's corruption. and suddenly, happy hour at signatures dried up. - more and more and more money was uncovered, and more tribes were involved. ended up being $82 million that they got,

money that abramoff was taking in, some of which was going to members of congress. - i remember being in a team meeting after the "washington post" story broke and asking jack, can you tell us what else is out there? and he looked at me and said, i don't know what they've got. - susan's articles raised the alarm, and john mccain's senate indian affairs committee began investigating all of it-- the lies, the secret partnerships, the illegal kickbacks. - all told, six tribes paid more than $66 million to mr. scanlon, and mr. abramoff received more than $21 million from mr. scanlon for his share of the scheme. - the mccain hearings became must-see tv for everyone in washington. - why did mr. scanlon pay mr. abramoff half of his profit? the answer is surprisingly simple. mr. abramoff and mr. scanlon were partners. - but the world might never have realized how truly ugly jack's operation was

had he not put it down in writing. - emails obtained by the committee show that they regularly referred to their clients using contemptuous, even racist language. - when you've shocked washington with your corruption and cynicism, you know it's bad. and jack was about to find out just how bad it would get.

[dramatic music] - it appears, from their own words, mr. abramoff and mr. scanlon held their tribal clients in absolute contempt. - in september 2004, the senate indian affairs committee held the first of several hearings into the abramoff affair. - according to your emails, you and mr. scanlon referred to tribes as morons, stupid idiots, monkeys, effing troglodytes. why would you want to work for people that you have that much contempt for? - i have no choice but to assert my various constitutional privileges against having to testve g ss that i'd like to put to the witness. did you send an email to mr. reed in which you said, and i quote, "i wish those moronic tiguas "were smarter in their political contributions. "i'd love us to get our mitts on that moolah. oh, well. stupid folks get wiped out." did you send that email to mr. reed?

- senator, i respectfully invoke the privilege as previously stated. - this is one of the first email scandals, one of the first times that, like, somebody's prolific emails came out and shocked people. - yeah. - when you heard all these racist attacks on native americans, were you surprised, or is this something you had discerned and felt living in washington or the united states already? - even in this stage of my life, i still have been surprised at the level of racism. but i was struck to actually read that about your own people... - yeah. - that people would call you troglodyte. and to know that he's cashing the checks of the people who are paying him to enable their dreams, their futures-- and in order for him to go where he needs to go, he needs to dehumanize us. - they were getting a huge thrill out of exploiting native americans and their resources.

they thought of their tribal clients as almost subhuman. i believe that abramoff and scanlon suffered from a moral virus. - jack abramoff is at the very heart of what could explode into the worst political scandal in washington in a generation. - jack abramoff's fall may be causing a lot of squirming on capitol hill, but the ripple effect may be wider than that. - as the media speculated about just how far jack's corruption spread, the gears of justice began their long, slow grind. - the department of justice were getting their leads from the press. jack abramoff is trying to place people in federal agencies. he's essentially trying to bribe top-level executive branch officials. - oh, there are so many nervous people. i think there are a lot of people who didn't have a very fun holiday, knowing that this could come up. - some people had a fun holiday. - hastert's deeply disturbed.

reed has never felt so distressed. oh, lord. bribery, i-- oh, lord, no. - what did you think when you saw so many republicans, from president george w. bush on down the line, acting as if they had no idea who jack abramoff was, or maybe they had seen him once or twice but not a big deal? what was your response to that? - it seriously became comical of people saying, i don't think-- i don't think i knew jack. of course, my name's thrown out there. and i remember one of my staff guys said, they're coming after us. - michael scanlon pled guilty today to conspiracy. the ex-partner of lobbyist jack "abromoff" admitted to bribing public officials in connection with indian tribe casinos. - after scanlon's guilty plea, it became clear that it was every man for himself. - i ended up cooperating with the government. i'm hesitant to say it, but i mean, it was my yuppie nuremberg defense, right?

i was like, man, i got to pay the mortgage. i got to keep this thing going. so i'm gonna do whatever i need to do to survive. - like any crime boss whose lieutenants have all rolled on him, jack saw the writing on the wall. - abramoff has pleaded guilty separately to conspiracy, fraud, and tax evasion charges here in washington, and he is cooperating with federal prosecutors in that investigation. that probe, as we know, could touch some members of congress. - with abramoff's guilty plea for his conduct with the tribes and members of congress, the republicans' culture of corruption emerged from the shadows. - congressman tom delay has not been implicated in this scandal but has been closely linked to lobbyist jack abramoff, and that has been enough for other republicans to urge him to step aside. - i think that the abramoff scandal is the latest signal of just how unhealthy and how dysfunctional washington, dc, has become and the political process has become, the lobbying process. - as the scandal widened, it became clear

many in republican leadership had dirty hands. but ultimately, only one congressman, bob ney, took the fall. - congressman bob ney today pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges in a huge influence-peddling scandal. - for his part in trading official actions for thousands of dollars in favors from abramoff and for making false statements about it, bob ney was sentenced to 30 months in prison. - finally, at the end, we did a plea. but if they're going to come after me, that i did a favor, i signed these letters and legislation for jack abramoff, they have to take about 200 other members to federal prison. certain things, i did do, but certain things, the government also, i think, exaggerated the case. - i hear two different things from you. one of them is, i accept the responsibility for what i did wrong, and then the other one is, some of these charges are bullshit. - in the end, it doesn't matter if the entire white house was eating for free at signatures.

it matters what happened with me. you know, i should have kept my plate clean. i needed to do the right thing. - this just in to cnn. it is a four-year prison sentence for disgraced lobbyist jack abramoff. - jack and bob would both go on to do their time, but only bob learned his lesson. jack abramoff wasn't finished yet.

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- as jack abramoff began serving his four-year sentence in 2006, democrats seized control of congress on a platform of fighting the corrupt lobbying that jack had embodied. and i'm sure they were, without a doubt, full of high-minded intention. - with our signatures, we will serve notice on the republicans that we intend to change the way washington works. [applause] - the core idea nancy pelosi tried to push was the idea of banning the revolving door. nancy pelosi said, let's say two years between leaving capitol hill and becoming a lobbyist. because in two years, all your connections would have faded, so your value as a lobbyist would go down, so fewer people would go into the business to become a lobbyist. but that was never gonna happen. congress refused to adopt that. [indistinct chatter] - nancy pelosi "cleared the swamp," which would be like taking a cup of water and throwing it in lake erie to make the water table rise.

- mm-hmm. - 42% of all members of the house have went into lobbying. the senate's a little higher. i think it's around 50%. this is since the abramoff scandal. but i think, if they want to really, you know, clean it up, there are some things they can do. - you think public financing of campaigns is necessary? - i think a lot of things. make that a real non-revolving door for staffers and members, big-time. make it five years, solid. stop all of the free trips. they still-- there's more trips than when jack and i went, you know, in congress today. stop them all. - when jack was released from prison in 2010, he, too, had reform on his mind. that is, he wanted to reform his image as an anti-corruption crusader while being immortalized in a feature film. - i'm a lobbyist. - that against the law? - jack embarked on a media blitz that included the inevitable book, talk shows--

- did you steal from indians? - no. - you did not steal from indians? - no. - really? because that is one of the founding principles of our nation. - --and news programs. - i'm mad at you. - i was mad at me. - i'm not kidding. i'm not kidding. - i was mad at me, leslie. look, i did things, and i was involved in a system i should not have been in. - jack learned nothing in going to prison. and then he gets out, and he hadn't changed. he was always looking to circumvent the rules. - former washington lobbyist jack abramoff is finding a new life on reality tv. - jack's rebranding effort peaked with an attempt to launch a television show about ethical lobbying and cryptocurrency called "bitcoin brigade." - we're actually gonna train this group to have moral lobbying. and unfortunately, i am the expert on that because i was the bad boy on the other side. - about that show, it never aired, probably because jack just could not help himself. in 2020, jack abramoff pleaded guilty to lying to investors

in promoting an anti-corruption version of the bitcoin cryptocurrency. abramoff also failed to register his lobbying work for clients in the cannabis industry and became the first person busted by the lobbying disclosure act, which was strengthened in response to his first scandal. so congress tried once more to teach jack a lesson, creating the jack act, requiring lobbyists to disclose prior corruption convictions. only time will tell if it worked. when you look back at jack abramoff's world, was it just about greed for him? was it about power? was it about attention? - now, do i think he is the worst lobbyist that's ever walked the earth? no. jack could take your wallet and make you think it was ok. and i don't mean that in a bad way. he was like a chameleon. he could-- - but you're really not describing a chameleon. you're really describing a sociopath, though. - well, you know, you could say that, sure. ♪ ♪

- you can take the creature out of the swamp, but then you've still got the swamp. and if anything, it seems that in the 20 years since dc supposedly cleaned up its act, that swamp has only gotten deeper and murkier. after all, gift bans and disclosure rules always have a workaround. - overall, there's too much money. you're talking about raising millions of dollars for house campaigns for a two-year job. well, if you got to raise millions of dollars every two years, you know, you're doing that all the time. - so while jack abramoff is the villain of this story, there are an untold number of jacks still out there, peddling influence and operating just within the lines of legality, making sure the swamp will never be drained. and if you don't believe me when it comes to the swamp, you don't know jack.